Graduates from CAMP return to Hatch to inspire young students

For the past several years, Claudette Ortiz has written wonderfully moving and poignant columns for the opinion page of the Sunday Sun-News.

She called Monday to tell me she would be forced to take what I hope will be a temporary leave of absence.

Claudy often wrote about the people and events of her beloved Hatch Valley. I could tell she was disappointed when she called, because she had a topic in mind for her next column.

I won't be able to do it as well as she would have, but I owed to her to at least try. And, with the government shut down and frustrations rising, it's kind of nice to step out of that toxic sludge for a week and write about something positive.

And so, today I'd like to introduce you to Omar Hernandez, Mario Cisneros and Audrey Viramontes.

All three are teachers in the Hatch Valley Public Schools. Hernandez teaches eighth grade science at the middle school, Cisneros is a fifth-grade teacher at the elementary school and Viramontes teaches special education at the middle school. And, all are graduates of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at New Mexico State University, a federally funded program to recruit migrant or seasonal farm worker students to attend college, then give them the support they need to succeed.

"For me, growing up in Hatch was very different," Hernandez said. "My mom was a single mother working the seasonal crops. I grew up in a migrant family, always constantly working."

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But, that hard work didn't keep him from excelling in school. Hernandez graduated from Hatch Valley High School as valedictorian of his class, and was all set to attend New Mexico Tech in pursuit of an engineering degree and the material wealth it would bring when a visit by the CAMP recruiter changed his mind.

"I started noticing a lot of my friends weren't graduating and didn't have a plan to go to college. Most of the kids that I had gone to school with most of my life, that was their answer," Hernandez said. "I wanted to do something with my life that was more meaningful than just making a lot of money."

The CAMP program felt like family, he said. And now, the rewards he gets each day when he goes to work are far greater than the number of zeros on his paycheck.

"I've chosen to be a teacher because, to me, it was very important to show kids in Hatch that they can do it, they are able to go to college and become a professional," he said. "It's not just something reserved for the elite.

"A lot of them stay in the cycle that, we'll just be the chile pickers and the onion poppers. A lot still have that mentality -- they're not smart enough, this is what we've always done. This is what we always will do.

"I see myself in them so much."

Cisneros and Viramontes have similar stories.

Viramontes was part of the very first CAMP class at NMSU, said current recruiting coordinator Jose Montoya. Cisneros was a student teacher in Hatch at a time when the district was desperate for teachers. As soon as he graduated, he became the full-time teacher for the same class he did his student teaching in.

The CAMP program recruits 30 new students every year. To qualify, a student must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, have a high school diploma or GED and be accepted through the Office of Admissions. Once enrolled, students get the attention and help they need to adjust to college life and be successful in class.

"Most of our students graduate between four and five years," Montoya said. "We've always marketed ourselves as a home away from home. All of our students are first generation coming to a university, and that can be intimidating."

Perhaps most important, about 80 percent stay in the state after graduation.

"For a long time, I thought I was going to leave Hatch," Hernandez said. "It felt like it was there that I was needed the most."

Walter Rubel is managing editor of the Sun-News. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com or follow @WalterRubel on Twitter.